Redfin stock struggles to find its footing

After its share price exploded in early trading, Redfin stock has fallen back to earth — though the company is still bullish about its long-term prospects.

After debuting on July 28 at $15 per share, the real estate technology firm quickly spiked, hitting $31 within three days on Wednesday before closing out last week at $25.85.

With shares at $27.60 each on Monday morning, experts are wondering what’s in store for Redfin. The company was founded in 2003, and while it made a name for itself in streamlining homebuyers’ initial search process, executives say Redfin seeks to expand its products and services to improve the entire homebuying process. Executives are hoping that Redfin’s reputation as a technology-focused real estate company, instead of a typical brokerage, will propel it to even more future success.

“The fact that it’s going to take another 10 or 15 years to realize our vision didn’t bother public company investors at all,” CEO Glenn Kelman said in an interview with GeekWire. “They are used to seeing companies where most of their growth is played out. What we said is we’ve been playing a long game. We’ve worked really hard to make the whole transaction better, not just the initial search, and we still have so much to do.”

Though it has big aspirations, Redfin is still a David in the real estate’s gamut of Goliaths; as of the final bell on Aug. 4, its market valuation was just over $2 billion, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, while Realogy — including brands like Coldwell Banker, Better Homes and Gardens, and Century 21 — had a valuation of over $4.7 billion.